Who will be on the blueline tonight for the Carolina Hurricanes?

That's the million dollar question right now as the team prepares for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Final series against the Florida Panthers.

The Hurricanes have been missing the services of veteran defenseman Jalen Chatfield, who's been a top-four staple for the Canes all year.

Chatfield was injured in the team's last series against the Washington Capitals and has since missed Carolina's last two games.

The defender was practicing this morning and is nearing a return, but his status is still up in the air for tonight.

In his place, the Hurricanes have alternated between a duo of rookie defensemen: Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow.

The issue is that neither player has really distinguished himself.

"Those are our two options if Chatty can't go," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour Thursday morning. "I think for both, it's a tough spot to put them in. Rookies who haven't had a lot of NHL experience. One guy that doesn't understand English that well. It's just not ideal for this time of year. I think those two are our best options and if Chatty can't go, it will be one of them. Scotty, I think he understands our game better because he's been playing it for a year and the flow of playing one game and coming right back to another game I think is a consideration. Those are all things we'll have to figure out if Chatty is unavailable."   

Nikishin played in Game 5 against the Capitals and had two egregious turnovers in the early goings of the game (one of which ended up in a goal although it was ultimately called back for offsides) and only played a little more than 10 minutes.

Morrow played in Game 1 against the Panthers and was a -3 in 12:18 of ice time.

At this point, we're really splitting hairs over who's the better option because the truth of the matter is that neither seems ready for the moment.

The Canes really just need Chatfield to play.

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The Chicago Blackhawks fired Luke Richardson during the 2024-25 season after a slow start that didn’t see their young players producing enough. They used Anders Sorensen as his replacement on an interim basis. 

Although they said that Sorensen would be in the mix for the full-time job, it was fairly obvious that they would move in a different direction. That decision has been made as they have officially hired Jeff Blashill to be the next head coach. 

A week's worth of speculation preceded this becoming official. Things were unusually quiet before the Blashill rumors started, but it was all but confirmed coming into official hiring day. 

Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) on XJeff Blashill is the 42nd Head Coach of the Chicago Blackhawks‼️ 📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/YJMSzjwBw0

Blashill began his career as an assistant at Ferris State before moving on to Miami University. He then took on a head coaching/GM job with the Indiana Ice of the USHL. While he was in Indiana, the Ice won the Clark Cup as league champions. 

Eventually, he transitioned to a head coaching role at Western Michigan University. He was one of the first great leaders in that program’s history. After one season there, one of the best in WMU's history up to that point, Blashill was hired as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings. 

Eventually, the Red Wings made him the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In 2013, Blashill and the Griffins won the Calder Cup as AHL champions. 

In 2015, head coach Mike Babcock left the Red Wings to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs. Detroit promoted Blashill from Grand Rapids to replace Babcock as their bench boss. 

After making the playoffs for 25 straight seasons, including Blashill's first year, the magic ran out for Detroit. They had legendary players retire, a lack of prospects, and not many draft picks ahead of them. 

Blashill wasn’t mistake-free during his tenure as Red Wings head coach, but his timing there wasn’t convenient. Not many coaches would have done much better. 

In 2022, GM Steve Yzerman noted that Blashill would not be returning after seven years of head coaching service and even longer in the organization. It was fair for the Red Wings to make a change, but it was hardly all Blashill’s fault. 

Since being removed from the Red Wings, Blashill has been serving under Jon Cooper on the Tampa Bay Lightning bench. That is not a bad place to sit back and learn more about coaching for three years.

Now, he is ready for his next head coaching challenge. His time spent coaching young players, plus what he’s learned through his NHL journey, set him up perfectly for this Chicago Blackhawks job. 

Blashill has shown the ability to help develop talent to the best of their ability. With Chicago, most of his impact players will be younger than 25 years old. 

Now that the head coach is in place, Kyle Davidson can shift his focus to the third overall pick, the rest of his draft board, and free agency. This is a huge step in what could be remembered as an incredibly important off-season in Blackhawks history. 

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